Why did it take so long?
by PinkPunk010
Summary: After the events of 'The Ambassadors of Death', Liz and Alistair have a drink in the bar, having a conversation about why it took so long for him to come and get her.


**A/N In the Ambassadors of Death, Liz is kidnapped. While the Doctor is off trying to figure out what is going on, the Brigadier has to try and organise finding Liz as well as all the Doctor's stuff. There is a moment in 'Part 5', where Regan is telling Liz about how he sent the astronaut to kill some of her 'UNIT buddies'. She instantly replies with 'The Brigadier?'. **

**At the end of the day, when Liz is safe back at UNIT, the two have a little chat. **

….

The Doctor had gone back to his laboratory. The Ambassadors had been sent off in their ship. All was well. A rather reasonable end to an awful day. If the Brigadier did say so himself.

He had left Miss Shaw by her room, continuing onto his own to get changed into something, a little more comfortable.

Then he was going to the bar. It had been that sort of a day.

Miss Shaw getting kidnapped, the Doctor going off the radar, then being kidnapped himself. A trio of killer astronauts that weren't really astronauts in the first place. People blowing themselves up, or getting killed by isotopes because of a lunatic ex-mars probe operator.

Miss Shaw getting kidnapped and not being able to do anything about it. The Doctor getting kidnapped…

There weren't many people that the Brig- no, that _Alistair_,considered to be his friends. People that he knew he could depend upon no matter what and would do a lot to keep safe. Sergeant Benton, while still a subordinate, came close. His ex-wife no longer had such a position. His daughter, for all obvious reasons. But the Doctor, for all he irritated the Brigadier like there was no tomorrow, for all they acted like they couldn't stand one another…the Brigadier had a deep respect, and dare he say it, _fondness_ for the alien dandy. And he knew that the friendship was (mostly – Silurians incident excluded) reciprocated.

Miss Shaw was another friend. An ally, an irritation, a thorn in his side. Someone who kept him on his toes and was far more intelligent than the doctor ever gave her credit for. He respected her immensely. Was even … no, he couldn't say that. She was a subordinate too. She worked for UNIT. He couldn't think of her with a sort of affection. Like a brother perhaps. He watched out for her, and she watched out for him (although she was a bit more vocal about it). Over her months at UNIT, they had developed a sort of, mutual respect and mutual irritation of the other.

So he wasn't surprised, when he entered the bar, to see a head of ginger and a splash of a (far too short, but he wasn't complaining) pink dress, sat on the stool next to 'his', with a glass of whisky already in front of his space.

"Liz," he said quietly, sliding onto the stool next to her.

"Why did it take you so long?" she asked quietly, not looking up and just swirling the contents of her own glass.

"What do you mean?"

"You and the Doctor, it took you almost a day to come and find me," she continued quietly. "The Doctor I can understand, he's like an easily distracted child. I expect he considered it your duty to find me so when back to the pictogram messages to decode. But…I didn't expect it to take the Doctor arriving for you to come and get me Alistair."

"I …" Alistair faltered, and sighed heavily, lifting his glass to his lips. "Must we? Can't we just sit and drink like we usually do."

"I've not usually been kidnapped," Liz shot back. She caught his slight wince at her words, but chose not to say anything. "Why?"

"I had other duties," He sighed, downing the glass and signalling for another. He would not look at his friend. "I couldn't devote all my time to trying to find you when we had a possible alien incursion on our hands. I asked Benton to head the search. Then I had to go back to tracking down those damnable astronauts."

"Oh," Liz didn't sound convinced.

"I asked Benton because he was the only one I trusted to find you and bring you home," Alistair said sharply in a low voice, so other patrons of the UNIT bar couldn't hear. They were all accustomed to the sight of the CO and the pretty scientist at the bar together, but they didn't need to start any rumours. "If I had to babysit the Doctor, at least I would know that they were definitely searching for you."

"I sent you the scientist!" Liz hissed back. "I sent you the bloody scientist."

She downed the rest of her drink and signalled for another. The Brigadier narrowed his eyes at the glass, turning to the bartender. He raised an eyebrow, and the bartender raised three fingers in response. This was her third whisky…

"Liz, I think that's enough," Alistair said firmly, taking the glass from his friend. Liz glared at him.

"Enough?" She said with a dry laugh "I got kidnapped and my two friends and colleagues just… _left me._"

"I didn't have a choice," Alistair snapped. "I wanted to come and search for you. If you ask Benton he'll tell you I called every ten minutes for updates. But we had _no leads_. And therefore, my duty was to stay in the area of the highest danger. With the Doctor. It was only because of his machine sending SOS that I even managed to find you. And I came as soon as I was able. I disobeyed a direct order to come and rescue you two. And I didn't leave you until we got back here. I did my damn best. And I'm sorry that's not good enough."

Liz was staring at him. He never lost his temper, even if this was still all under his breath. The Alistair she knew was stoic, calm, and would do what he thought was best no matter the consequences.

"They," she started carefully, desperately trying to choose the right words to explain that she understood. That she knew what he was trying to say and she accepted it. "Regan came back. After he attacked the space station, I don't know why he did. I had tried escaping, but gotten caught and delivered back. Anyway, I asked him where he had taken the poor creature. It was exhausted, just sort of collapsed, until we gave it more isotope. He said – he said that he'd been killing some of my UNIT friends… I thought he meant you."

Alistair glanced over briefly, before gulping his drink.

"We're a right pair aren't we," Liz said unhappily, turning back to the bar and tracing patterns in the wood. "I don't know if I can do this for much longer…"

"What are you saying?" Alistair said sharply.

"Well, I always seem to get kidnapped or used as bait," She huffed. "I do so hate playing the damsel in distress."

Alistair managed to crack a smile at that. "You won't leave," he said assuredly.

"I will someday," Liz said quietly "I don't think it'll be this week, or next… but I'm not sure how much more of being treated like a fool I can take."

"I don't think you're a fool," he said gently, Liz smiled sadly up at him in response. "Well, it's true. You are most certainly not a fool. A little on the irritating side, definitely –"

"Excuse me," Liz said in mock outrage, accepting the peace offering "_I'm _the irritating one?! What about you, with your stick and your determination to use brute force and manpower to solve a problem?"

And so, they fell back into the banter of the weeks pervious, not noting how the three other regular patrons had relaxed, safe in the knowledge that their superior officers were acting exactly as usual again, and no longer having a serious argument. You didn't need to hear the words to feel the tension, which had now relaxed, and everyone was able to enjoy their evening.

**A/N Friendship, angst, hints at something a bit more than friendship… I'm a total Brig/Liz shipper but I felt he kind of forgot about her in this episode. So I made up a reason. **


End file.
